Author Pimp: Nalini Singh

Since her newest book in her Psy-Changeling series is coming out on September 4th, I thought this would be a good time to pimp her books. Nalini Singh was my best find of 2006. I honestly mean that. It's not just b/c I'm a huge fangirl of Nalini herself. *g*

Thank God for Amazon.com. I always look at what they recommend based on what I buy (and I buy a lot). They recommended Slave to Sensation and after reading the blurb, I immediately ordered it. Once I received it, I couldn't put it down.

In a world that denies emotions, where the ruling Psy punish any sign of desire, Sascha Duncan must conceal the feelings that brand her as flawed. To reveal them would be to sentence herself to the horror of “rehabilitation”— the complete psychic erasure of everything she ever was….
Both human and animal, Lucas Hunter is a Changeling hungry for the very sensations the Psy disdain. After centuries of uneasy co-existence, these two races are now on the verge of war over the brutal murders of several Changeling women. Lucas is determined to find the Psy killer who butchered his packmate, and Sascha is his ticket into their closely guarded society. But he soon discovers that this ice-cold Psy is very capable of passion—and that the animal in him is fascinated by her. Caught between their conflicting worlds, Lucas and Sascha must remain bound to their identities—or sacrifice everything for a taste of darkest temptation…

Lucas Hunter is the kind of hero I love. Although he was a little too perfect, he was an alpha through and through. Once he realized Sascha was his mate, he got even more alpha. Which kind of doesn't seem possible, but it happened. LOL. Sascha is in my top ten favorite heroines of all times. She's kick ass, in a very subtle way, though. You can order Slave to Sensation here.

Used to cold silence, Faith NightStar is suddenly being tormented by dark visions of blood and murder. A bad sign for anyone, but worse for Faith, an F-Psy with the highly sought after ability to predict the future. Then the visions show her something even more dangerous-aching need...exquisite pleasure. But so powerful is her sight, so fragile the state of her mind, that the very emotions she yearns to embrace could be the end of her. Changeling Vaughn D'Angelo can take either man or jaguar form, but it is his animal side that is overwhelmingly drawn to Faith. The jaguar's instinct is to claim this woman it finds so utterly fascinating and the man has no argument. But while Vaughn craves sensation and hungers to pleasure Faith in every way, desire is a danger that could snap the last threads of her sanity. And there are Psy who need Faith's sight for their own purposes. They must keep her silenced-and keep her from Vaughn...

Slave to Sensation is still my favorite of the two, but Visions of Heat still rocked my socks. I own three copies of it. I found a copy before the release date, which I snapped up and read immediately. Then I felt guilty for buying it before the release date, so I ordered another copy. THEN, I had to get a copy at RWA in Dallas. Had, had, had to. I wish Nalini would have had copies of StS available, too. Unfortunately I didn't bring mine. :( Vaughn and Faith's book was a fab-u-lous addition to the series and showed more insight into the characters of the next book. You can buy Visions of Heat here.

As an Arrow, an elite soldier in the Psy Council ranks, Judd Lauren was forced to do terrible things in the name of his people. Now a defector, his dark abilities have made him the most deadly of assassins—cold, pitiless, unfeeling. Until he meets Brenna… Brenna Shane Kincaid was an innocent before she was abducted—and had her mind violated—by a serial killer. Her sense of evil runs so deep, she fears she could become a killer herself. Then the first dead body is found, victim of a familiar madness. Judd is her only hope, yet her sensual changeling side rebels against the inhuman chill of his personality, even as desire explodes between them. Shocking and raw, their passion is a danger that threatens not only their hearts, but their very lives…

Both Brenna and Judd were first introduced in Slave to Sensation. Judd is an AWOL Psy who lives with his family in the wolf-den. There is more to him than meets the eye, as we learn in Visions of Heat. Brenna is a seriously tortured heroine. I am counting down the days until the release of this book. SEPTEMBER 4, 2007!! You can pre-order Caressed by Ice here.

Nalini also has a blog. She posts almost every day. Contests, reader interviews, author/book spotlights. You name it. It's one of my favorite author blogs.

So not only is Nalini a wonderful author, she's also this amazingly sweet person. I had the honor of meeting her in RWA and she is as sweet in person as she is online. And she's cute! Here's a pic of her and I in Dallas. I didn't have time to photoshop myself. ;)